Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy this! Enjoy the holidays - be happy, healthy and stay safe!
Chapter Two
The days flew by as Tim tackled the mountain of things he needed to do before leaving. Luckily, as Vance had said, the agency was handling any paperwork needed for his residency in Greece, so that was one less tangle for him to handle. His bank had a partner-bank in Europe with a branch in Athens and he easily made the few changes needed. He visited the shelter and camp where he and his siblings had grown up and said his goodbyes there. He'd established a trust fund, or rather Mr. Gemcity had, for the kids that lived in the same desperate conditions he had and now ensured that fund would be maintained. He contacted his publisher and found that the firm had an office in London, so that if he had to make a physical visit, at least he wouldn't have to fly back to the States. Book tours would obviously be out of the question they took place in the UK or Europe. He had recently submitted his next to last installment of the Deep Six/Tibbs adventures and now he gave them a new outline for the last book. He would use the Tibbs' team to introduce a new and totally fictional team in some made up country name. He didn't put it on the outline, but he was toying with the idea of killing off the entire Tibbs team at the end of the book.
Sarah and Rob, the toddler Tim had rescued, raised along with Sarah and later adopted, joined him at his place on Tuesday and again on Thursday. The younger siblings spent as much time as possible with him throughout the week. While all three were excited about their new adventures, they were having a tough time dealing with the imminent separation. They'd never lived farther apart than Baltimore and Silver Spring; now they would live in different countries. The saving grace was that Rob and Sarah would be just miles from each other in the UK, just a 30 minute train ride. Tim told them they were to spend all holidays together, either visiting him in Greece or he would travel to them. They had written Geordie, their older brother in Marine Special Forces, but had no idea when he would receive their letters or when they'd get replies. Tim gave his siblings the NCIS office address in Piraeus, which would have to do until he got there and found a place to live. E-mail and Skype would always be available.
The kids helped him sort through his clothes to determine what should go to London, what should go with him to Greece, what could be shipped and what could be donated. Rob had volunteered to take the clothes to be donated straight to the camp and then to the shelter. He and Sarah would go through the same process of sorting their own clothes and belongings. The McGee siblings had always traveled light, at first out of necessity and later from habit.
Tuesday night he had dinner with the Director, Kayla and Jared. Vance told stories of his and Jackie's life in Greece. Since Jackie had been pregnant with Kayla their last year there, the young girl was very interested in hearing about her parents' lives. Jared thought it was cool that his parents had lived in Greece; he vaguely remembered seeing the Grecian Olympics on TV when he was very young. Tim took in every word, noting the cultural references the Director cleverly made part of his stories.
Wednesday was dinner at Ducky's with Jimmy and Breena joining them. It was a warm, convivial and bittersweet evening. While his three friends were happy for him and understood his need to leave, Ducky's sadness was almost palpable. It wasn't visible nevertheless Tim felt it, coupled with his own. The Palmers might have sensed it too as they left shortly after dinner exchanging warm hugs and promises to keep in touch. Ducky asked Tim to stay for a brandy and the two men sat into the wee hours of the morning talking. The elderly man expressed mixed feelings; he was grateful that Tim was landing on his feet and excited for Tim's new adventures, but was sorrowful at the reasons Tim was leaving – and that he felt he had to leave DC to move ahead with his career. He made no excuses for his old friend, now Tim's former boss, but he did express regret that he hadn't been able to help more. Tim rejected the notion saying that each of them was responsible for his or her actions and Ducky was not responsible for any of it. He told his young friend he would miss him dreadfully and the two promised to keep in close touch via e-mail and Skype. Tim had downloaded and installed the program on Ducky's home computer several months before, allowing the older man to keep in better touch with his friends in the UK. Ducky held his emotions in check until Timothy left and then he gave in to his grief at the departure of the man he'd come to think of as a grandson. He was angry with Gibbs and the circumstances but understood Tim's request to keep quiet until after his departure on Friday.
Tim's flight was not until 11 AM on Friday. He would have breakfast with his siblings at their favorite café and then grab a shuttle to the airport, preferring not to say goodbye at the airport. With Pam's help, he'd upgraded to First Class, using the frequent flier miles he'd accumulated during his book tours. Remembering Ziva's insistence on flying First Class to Israel, he had decided it was a good idea, especially considering the discomfort of cramming his long legs into an economy seat for 7 hours.
By Thursday, Tim had washed and packed all the clothes traveling with him on the plane, including those for his first weeks in Greece until the container with his belongings arrived. He'd sold his car, grateful he had bought it slightly used and had paid cash. He'd done his Greek history and cultural homework and felt as prepared as he could be given the circumstances. He'd done all his financial work, forwarded his mail and contacted his friends either by phone or e-mail. He'd had one last meeting with Vance and HR to sign some papers about working overseas. He was nearly ready, with only the most dreaded task still to be done. He made a discreet call to Pam before she left for the day and she told him that Gibbs had not had a new case come in, that they had in fact been on cold cases all week and would continue that until they brought in another agent. Tim laughed at himself for not realizing that himself, of course they'd been on cold cases! Taking the advice of Ducky and his siblings, he'd written out what he wanted to say to Gibbs, keeping it short and to the point. His plan was to show up, say what he had to say and then get the hell out of there, not needing or wanting to hear what Gibbs might have to say. He'd already given him 10 years, he was not willing to give one minute more, enough was enough. Before he packed them, Tim had read the journals he'd written since he'd been on Gibbs' team and after the rush of the week, was once again focused on the reasons he was leaving.
And so on Thursday night, he borrowed Rob's car and drove to Arlington. Gibbs' car was in front of his house, Tim drove around the block twice before he finally parked down the street. He sat for a few minutes, looking at his notes. This would be it then, the end of his ties with Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Remembering the hope and happiness of the day Gibbs had transferred him to the team, Tim swallowed hard. While he knew he had done good work and had been told so by the directors he'd worked under, his immediate boss had rarely acknowledged his contributions and for the most part only spoke to him when something was wrong or the man perceived something was wrong and then only at the top of his lungs.
Tim knew this would be personally tricky for him. He needed to express his anger and disappointment with Gibbs while remaining positive and excited about the changes in his life. Sitting there in the car, he also acknowledged to himself that he would still need to deal with his negative feelings, that all the good stuff in the world wouldn't erase them. It would help, but he could not bury them as he had been.
With all that in his mind, he stepped out of the car, carefully locking it and walked down the sidewalk to Gibbs' house. He stopped at the edge of the sidewalk and stood straight and tall, remembering his long dead father telling him that he could handle anything. And he had. He'd had plenty of things to deal with and this was just one more thing. After it was done, it would be history and hardly worth thinking about...eventually.
Keeping his shoulders squared and his head held high, he opened the front door of the house and seeing no one in the living area, headed for the basement. Pushing the door open, he walked down two steps, the farthest he was willing to descend. Gibbs looked up but typically said nothing. Tim, holding a small talisman Ducky had given him in one hand, began talking.
"I'm leaving your team. In fact, I've already left it. I'm moving on. Had enough of your silence and your verbal abuse, the disrespect of both you and your Senior Field Agent, even Kate and Ziva. Had enough of being ignored, benched for no reason, yelled at for no reason, humiliated, bullied and pranked. I'm done with being blamed and punished for Abby's transgressions and lies, and most of all for being treated like shit for doing what you hired me to do."
Tim turned and left, hearing Gibbs call after him but resolutely ignoring him and moving forward. That was what he had come to do, wasn't it? That was the thought that was driving him to his new life. It was time to move forward.
*The End – Of the Beginning...*
Stay tuned for Tim's next adventure as he starts his new life. I plan to post the next story between Christmas and New Year's. Have a Merry Christmas, everyone!
